Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/29

Rh and present forms of the disease in its most vivid aspect. The names of the other two are Ucauca and Dakua; and I examined all the surviving persons above alluded to, together with several others at the Noikoro villages of Naviti and Korolevu, on the 27th of January, 1891.

Another leprosy stone with which I have met is situated quite on the northern border of the Tailevu province, adjacent to Ba, near the village of Na Qia, in the Sawakasa district. It is about midway between the coast and the Wai ni Buka river. I visited this place on the 23rd of April. This stone also has macula markings, in which the natives profess to see a strong likeness to those of leprosy. Portions of its surface are smooth, others rough; and it has three ripplings or corrugations upon it to which the natives apply the term vakalawarikoso. It may be described as a rock rather than a stone, being too large and too heavy to admit of transportation. It lies in the bed of a small creek, called the Nasova Creek, on land belonging to a mataqali of the same name. It is embedded in silt, only its top showing generally. The embouchure of the creek, where it joins the main stream, is called the Natubadavui. The stone is a mile and a half from the village.

At the time of my visit the Taukei of the stone was said to be one Qalovakarua; he was unfortunately away at a distance in his dalo patches, and I failed to see him. But a wretched boy named Vakaraika, about seven years of age, was one of the mataqali, and him I examined. He was suffering from leprosy in an advanced and revolting form; and I have since heard that his death took place a few weeks after the date of my visit. His elder sister, Qasetagane, also died of leprosy; but both the parents and the grandparents are stoutly asserted to have been free from it. Other cases I saw at the same time in the village of Na Qia were Sereana, Saloti, and Semuili. The turaga ni koro's son, and also an old man named Sailasa, recently died of leprosy in this village. The place is evidently a leprous